[Cali Panthers Fan]

OK, let me clarify. Being under 50% isn't a big deal. Stajan is 49.5%. So? Anyone hovering around the 50% mark is pretty good.

Monahan is 47.8%. Not dominant but not terrible either. He's young still.

Backlund is 45.7%. He's never been good at face-offs but he's still an excellent possession player? Why? He goes and gets the puck back even though technically he lost the draw.

Bennett is 44.5%...as a rookie. He'll get better with experience, especially with his compete level.

Jooris and Granlund are poor, but both are better suited to the wing anyways, so I don't even worry about them.

Being 5% below 50% isn't the worst thing in the world. Over the course of this season, Backlund has lost 15 more face-offs than he's won. That's less than 1 per game. Bennett's differential is 10. Stajan's is 3. Monahan is around 24, which is roughly 1 per game, and he takes more face-offs than anyone, but you live with his growing pains in this regard.

What I'm saying is that if you can't overcome losing 1-3 extra face-offs per game then something is wrong with the rest of your game. Looking at a lot of different areas that need addressing with the Flames this year, face-offs are really low on the priority list. It's a quick moment that gives possession momentarily to one team over another, but unless it's overtime, possession is usually only maintained for a few seconds.

People make a big deal about face-offs, and sometimes they do matter, but I fail to see why we're worrying about it when there's so many bigger problems to fix.

I do agree that we could use a checking line center that can win key draws, but you still have to rely on your big centers to get the job done when the game is on the line. This stat will largely depend on how well Monahan and Bennett develop their skills on the dot. I say that long term it will not be a problem.